Academic repression is increasingly being felt in traditionally democratic countries, according to a report from Scholars at Risk. The most striking case is the US, where a gradual erosion of academic freedom since 2020 has risen sharply since the return to power of Donald Trump. Another priority is to publicly acknowledge the importance of academic freedom and institutional autonomy for both scientific progress and democratic advancement. When it comes to Europe, Matei is hopeful that experts will work with both the European Parliament and the Commission to come up with actions to better protect academic freedom. We are in a much better situation in Europe in this regard to even talk about new, supranational regulations to protect, not suppress, academic freedom,” he said.